The Story of Little Black Sambo is a children's book written and illustrated by Scottish author Helen Bannerman, and published by Grant Richards in October 1899 as one in a series of small-format books called The Dumpy Books for Children. The story was a children's favourite for more than half a century.

Critics of the time observed that Bannerman presents one of the first black heroes in children's literature and regarded the book as positively portraying black characters in both the text and pictures, especially in comparison to the more negative books of that era that depicted blacks as simple and uncivilised.[1] However, it would become an object of allegations of racism in the mid-20th century. Both text and illustrations have undergone considerable revisions since.

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Sambo is a South Indian boy who lives with his father and mother, named Black Jumbo and Black Mumbo, respectively. While out walking, Sambo encounters four hungry tigers, and surrenders his colourful new clothes, shoes, and umbrella so they will not eat him. The tigers are vain and each thinks he is better dressed than the others. They chase each other around a tree until they are reduced to a pool of ghee (clarified butter). Sambo then recovers his clothes and collects the ghee, which his mother uses to make pancakes.[2]

The book's original illustrations were done by the author and simple in style, typical of most children's books, and depicted Sambo as a Southern Indian or Tamil child. The book has thematic similarities to Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, published in 1894, which had far more sophisticated illustrations. However, Little Black Sambo's success led to many counterfeit, inexpensive, widely available versions that incorporated popular stereotypes of "black" peoples. For example, in 1908 John R. Neill, best known for his illustration of the Oz books by L. Frank Baum, illustrated an edition of Bannerman's story.[3] In 1932 Langston Hughes criticised Little Black Sambo as a typical "pickaninny" storybook which was hurtful to black children, and gradually the book disappeared from lists of recommended stories for children.[4]

In 1957, an illustrated children's book, Come To Eat (בואו לאכול), written by Avigdor Hameiri and illustrated by Mariam Bartov, was published in Hebrew in Israel. It tells the story about Mother Mambo and Father Sambo trying to get their little boy Bambo to eat his supper. Only after Bambo watches a series of animals only too happy to eat his food does he learn his lesson and come home to eat his supper. The story contains no racist overtones and reads as any number of stories of mildly rambunctious children.[7]

The book is beloved in Japan and is not considered controversial there, but it was subject to copyright infringement. Little Black Sambo(ちびくろサンボ,Chibikuro Sanbo) was first published in Japan by Iwanami Shoten Publishing in 1953. The book was an unlicensed version of the original, and it contained drawings by Frank Dobias that had appeared in a US edition published by Macmillan Publishers in 1927. Sambo was illustrated as an African boy rather than as an Indian boy. Although it did not contain Bannerman's original illustrations, this book was long mistaken for the original version in Japan. It sold over 1,000,000 copies before it was pulled off the shelves in 1988 after copyright issues were raised.[8] When the copyright expired, Kodansha and Shogakukan, the two largest publishers in Japan, published official editions. These are still in print.

As of August 2011, an equally uncontroversial "side story" for Little Black Sambo, called Ufu and Mufu, is being sold and merchandised in Japan.

In 1996, noted illustrator Fred Marcellino observed that the story itself contained no racist overtones and produced a re-illustrated version, The Story of Little Babaji, which changes the characters' names but otherwise leaves the text unmodified.[9]

A modern printing with the original title, in 2003, substituted more racially sensitive illustrations by Christopher Bing, in which, for example, Sambo is no longer so inky black. It was chosen for the Kirkus 2003 Editor's Choice list. Some critics were still unsatisfied. Dr Alvin F. Poussaint said of the 2003 publication: "I don't see how I can get past the title and what it means. It would be like ... trying to do 'Little Black Darky' and saying, 'As long as I fix up the character so he doesn't look like a darky on the plantation, it's OK.'"[this quote needs a citation]

In 1997, a Japanese retelling of the story, Chibikuro Sampo ("sampo" means "taking a walk" in Japanese, "Chibi" means "little" and "kuro" means black), replaced the protagonist with a black Labrador puppy that goes for a stroll in the jungle. It was published by Mori Marimo from Kitaooji Shobo Publishing in Kyoto. This publication was denounced by a 3-person organisation calling itself "The Association To Stop Racism Against Blacks", which consisted of a woman (the president), her husband (the vice-president), and their 10-year-old son (the treasurer). Kitaooji Shobo refused to stop the publication.[8]

In 2004, a Little Golden Book version was published, The Boy and the Tigers, with new names and illustrations by Valeria Petrone. The boy is called Little Rajani.[11]

The Iwanami version, with its controversial Dobias illustrations and without the proper copyright, was re-released in April 2005 in Japan by a Tokyo-based publisher Zuiunsya, because Iwanami's copyright expired after fifty years of its first appearance.[citation needed]

Sam from Little Black Sambo appears in Jack of Fables Volume 1: The (Nearly) Great Escape. He is a prisoner of Golden Burroughs, a prison for Fables.[citation needed]

The band R.E.M. referenced the story of Little Black Sambo in the 1986 song "Begin the Begin": "On Zenith, on the TV, tiger run around the tree. Follow the leader, run and turn into butter."[citation needed]

It was retold as "Little Kim" in a storybook and cassette as part of the Once Upon a Time Fairy Tale Series where Sambo is called "Kim", his father Jumbo is "Tim" and his mother Mumbo is "Sim".[citation needed]

Columbia Records issued a 1946 version on two 78 RPM records with narration by Don Lyon.[13] It was issued in a folder with artwork showing Sambo to be quite black indeed, though the narrative preserves the locale as India.[14]

An independent restaurant founded in 1957 in Lincoln City, Oregon, is named Lil' Sambo's after the fictional character.[16]

Coincidentally, a popular US restaurant chain of the 1950s through 1970s, Sambo's, borrowed characters from the book (including Sambo and the tigers) for promotional purposes, although the Sambo name was originally a combination of the founders' names and nicknames: Sam (Sam Battistone) and Bo (Newell Bohnett).[17] Nonetheless, the controversy about the book led to accusations of racism that contributed to the 1,117-restaurant[18] chain's demise in the early 1980s.[17] Images inspired by the book (now considered by some racially insensitive) were common interior decorations in the restaurants.[19] Though portions of the original chain were renamed No Place Like Sam's to try to forestall closure,[18] all but the original restaurants in Santa Barbara, California, had closed by 1983. The original location still exists in Santa Barbara under the name Sambo's.[20]

Kazuo Mori (2005). "A Comparison of Amusingness for Japanese Children and Senior Citizens of The Story of Little Black Sambo in the Traditional Version and Nonracist Version." Social Behavior and Personality, Vol. 33, pp. 455–466.